Until he was recalled by New Cross, Cyril Roger was the main stay behind Exeter's initial success in 1948 and laid the foundation for Exeter who went on to win the Div 3 Title and the "The People Trophy". Bert Roger remained with the Falcons, and along with Norman Clay, Don Hardy and Arthur Pilgrim, Exeter were strong enough to carry on without Cyril and grab honours. Such was the ease with which Exeter were wining at home, that top man Frank Buckland was concerned about dwindling crowds.

Several new teams had joined Div 3 in 1948, noteably Poole which led to Allan Chambers, Sid Hazard and Charlie Hayden all leaving Exeter to join the Dorset camp. Veteran les Trim had decided to retire from the sport, and Tom Crutcher had been tragically killed during the winter which meant that the Falcons were to have a totally new look for the 1948 season.

Newcomers to the side included a trio of Australians in the form of Keith Gurtner, Hugh Geddes and Norman Clay. Also joining was Cyril Roger's younger brother Bert who joined on loan from New Cross and made an immediate impact when he scored highly in an opening benefit meeting for the family of Tom Crutcher. Johny Myson was also looking in tremendous form and the Falcons had a very strong look about them.

The opening League match saw the Falcons thrashed at Southampton 57-27 and the following day went down 82-26 at Tamworth in the National Trophy with only Cyril Roger making any real contribution to the scoring. But when Exeter hosted the return leg a few days later, a miracle almost occured as Exeter won by 81-27, and from then on the results improved dramatically. Whilst still knocking up cricket scores at home, the Falcons were also winning on away tracks. The League was run on the basis of each team racing against each twice at home and away making 44 matches in all for each team.

Johnny Myson was loaned out to Bristol midway through the season after a string of minor injuries whilst Keith Gurtner failed to show any real prospect and moved on to join Newcastle. By Mid season, the Falcons sat on top of the League, but success and high scores at the County Ground saw the gate figures start to fall

Pictured Right, Bob Roger who was the Exeter captain, proudly displays the Third Division Championship Trophy, also known as "The Peoples" Trophy.

Cyril Roger clocked a new lap record during a challenge match against Norwich which they won, and the new record of 77.0 seconds was recorded. But such was the form of Cyril that he was to be recalled by his Parent club New Cross and Bronco Slade suffered a bad injury during a Grass Track meeting.

Stan Lanfear signed on a permanent basis for Exeter and moved into the team when Stan Hodson was injured and the legendary Lew Coffin was given a chance at reserve. Frank Buckland decided to emigrate to Australia and Bill Eastmond took over the reins at the County Ground thus ending a long term relationship with Exeter Speedway that began back to the pre war begining.

Exeter clinched their first League title when they soundly beat Hull 62-22 in a match that saw Hugh Geddes scored a notable maximum for the Falcons. They had won all but one of their 22 home matches, whilst away they had won 11, Drawn one and lost 10

Elsewhere in 1948

Speedway was booming again following the war years with stadiums bursting at the seams. Such was the boom, that 30 applications for new licences were applied for, yet only five were granted, and yet still 28 clubs took part in the three Leagues which was a record.

New Cross had won the National league Div 1 with Harringay second and West Ham third. Bristol topped Div 2 over Birmingham and Middlesbrough, whilst Exeter triumphed in Div 3 with Cradley runners up and Southampton in third.

Vig Duggan won the British Riders Championship with Ron Johnson runner up and Alec Statham in third spot in a Wembley final that saw a massive crowd of nearly 100,000 packed in to watch. Wembley beat New Cross to win both the National Trophy and the London Cup, whilst Harringay won the Anniversary Cup beating Belle Vue into second place.

Pictured Right, Bristol in 1948 (L to R): Reg Whitcombe (Director), Fred Tuck, Bill Hole, Cyril Quick, Eric Salmon Bill Hamblin (Manager) Kneeling: John Hole, Mike Beddoe, Jack Mountford and Roger Wise.

Harringay were aided by Vic Duggan who topped the scoring charts back in 1948 ahead of New Cross rider Ron Johnson and Wilbur Lamoreaux of wembley. Frank Hodgson of Middlesbrough topped the Div 2 scores from Graham Warren of Birmingham and Bristol's Fred Tuck, whilst in the third Div, Southampton's Alf Bottoms topped the scores ahead of Wally Green of Hastings and Exeter's Bert Roger.

Speedway made a tragically unique debut at Poole when Yarmouth's Reg Craven was killed in the first match at the track. In other Individual events, Bill Longley won both the International Cup at Wimbledon and the Harringay trophy, Oliver Hart won the Yorkshire Cup at Osdal, Vic Duggan the Olympiad at West Ham and Malcolm Craven the Cundy Trophy